Alreet lads and lasses! Has it gannin? I’ve made catalogue of Northumbrian and Geordie dialect words. Some of them are unique to the area, some are found in other British dialects. Some are common, some are dying out, spoken only by a few older people.For each word, I have tried to give the most likely etymology, with […]
Winter Solstice: Sunrise and Sunset Times
A couple of maps showing when the Sun rises and sets on the shortest day of the year, depending on where you are in Britain and Ireland.Â
The Evolution of Father Christmas
Who is Father Christmas? Father Christmas is the name given to the personification of Christmas in England. He is also increasingly called “Santa” (the American word), but the two were once very different figures with separate origins. Father Christmas is a much older tradition and, like many Christmas traditions, may have roots in the ancient […]
5 Ways that Being a Westerner in Vietnam is Like Being a Celebrity.
Sometimes people in Vietnam treat westerners very differently, especially in the countryside where they don’t see many foreigners. And sometimes all the special treatment makes you feel like you’re famous or something!Here’s a comic to explain what I mean:
Pros and Cons of Living in Vietnam (Part 1 and 2)
So I’ve lived in Hanoi, Vietnam for a (non-continuous) total of about 17 months, and I’ve learned to love many things. But there will always be aspects of living in a foreign country that are… harder to love.Here is a list of both the good and bad parts of living here:
A Guide to Motorbiking in Vietnam
Post the weirdest thing you’ve seen on a motorbike below.10 internet points to whoever posts the weirdest one!
Vietnamese Animal Names
Since moving back to Hanoi, I have decided to try to learn the Vietnamese language, which is both fascinating and challenging.I’ve noticed that the Vietnamese have a wonderful way of naming certain animals, so I thought it would be fun to share some examples with you, with a little image of how they literally translate […]
The ABCD Family Tree
I’ve created an infographic showing the relationship between different scripts used in languages across the world.These 57 different scripts are all thought to have ultimately evolved from the hieroglyphs the Egyptians used over 5000 years ago. I have tried to display the relationships between scripts by showing how 4 symbols in Hieroglyphs,evolved into letters used […]